


Salutem

by bexgempisces



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Dealing With Trauma, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Post Season 5, because I cant write grief with Fitzsimmons, but Fitzsimmons just got a divorce lol, daisy built a safe place for inhumans, daisys six month vigilante quest, fitz was lowkey a dick, huntingbird!, inhuman sanctuary, little child inhumans!, on both parts, post 5x14, skimmons!, this is not fitz friendly im sorry, vacation times!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26106610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bexgempisces/pseuds/bexgempisces
Summary: In a post season 5 AU, where everything is the same apart from Fitz didn’t die and he and Jemma just got a divorce, Daisy whisks Jemma away on a vacation that will change their relationship forever as they finally confront their feelings.
Relationships: Bobbi Morse & Jemma Simmons, Bobbi Morse & Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Bobbi Morse & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Jemma Simmons/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Lance Hunter & Jemma Simmons, Lance Hunter & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse
Comments: 12
Kudos: 82





	1. A Vacation? In SHIELD?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! So, I have another Skimmons fic because are we really surprised? I love this shit and honestly would have been so happy if it was canon but alas, no. So I’m dealing with my lesbian imagination here in fanfic. 
> 
> So I had this idea in math class because parabolas are boring where daisy set up an inhuman sanctuary or safe place when she was away in season 4 and this fic was created. It is multi-chapter mainly because it would be very long if it wasn’t. 
> 
> And yes Bobbi and Hunter are back because i miss them like mad and I refuse to believe they just cut all contact. So they’ve been looking after the inhumans and guarding the safe place. 
> 
> This will deal with the trauma from 5x14 and 5x22 with coulson dying. Also with 3x22, Lincoln dying and Daisy’s whole vigilante quest and her suicidal actions and I will be leaning into that because it’s literally never addressed so imma deal with it again. Maveth will also be explored with Jemma and the Framework for both of them since that was never dealt with either. 
> 
> This fic is kinda anti-fitz. You don’t have to read if you don’t like that, it’s okay I will understand. I just rewatched season 5 and then rewatched the entire season and I realised a lot of things I really didn’t like about his character. This is just my personal viewpoint and it’s explored in this fic so I just thought I’d warn everyone before I start getting death threats or something in the comments lol. 
> 
> WARNINGS: talks of suicidal intentions, suicide attempts, self harm, torture, mental abuse, physical abuse, domestic verbal abuse, grief, xenophobia, past child abuse and emotional breakdowns. 
> 
> As always, any and all criticism or comments are greatly appreciated and I hope you all enjoy! -bex xx

“Jemma.” 

Jemma startles a bit at the sudden voice in the otherwise silent lab. She’s been engrossed in her work, some scientist had gone nuts and New SHIELD 3.0 had been called in to investigate his experiments. It was gruelling and horrific work, Doctor Kingston had been experimenting with a case of vibranium which had somehow made its way from Wakanda and it had had disastrous side effects. 

She was so engrossed that she hadn’t even heard the lab doors open or Daisy’s footsteps. She rubs her eyes before turning to Daisy. 

“Yes?” 

Their friendship had been...strained, recently. With the whole future thing, kidnapping and enslavement, her marriage, Fitz’s psychic split and Daisy’s torture at his hand, their failed mission to England, all the infighting, the final defeat of Talbot, Coulson and May leaving so he could live out his final days in peace and Fitz’s recent departure... 

Well, she was surprised Daisy was talking to her at all. 

But Daisy smiled that smile that made Jemma’s insides glow. A smile she hadn’t seen in so long but one that normally meant “bad girl shenanigans” or stealing Mack’s motorbike at three in the morning to go get ice cream or pranks on the team before sunrise, apart for May, ( _ never _ prank May) or their Doctor Who, Star Trek, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings marathons. That smile that normally meant Jemma would go along with whatever Daisy had planned because it would end up being one of the best times of her life, but especially now; when she hasn’t felt this way in what feels like centuries and when she’s  finally  seeing glimpses of the old Daisy. The Daisy before the Framework and Lincoln and the Destroyer of Worlds and Fitz. 

And she missed her. 

(She missed herself too, the version of herself that she can only be with Daisy smiles that smile. She hasn’t been her in so long.) 

“We’re going on vacation.” 

That definitely wasn’t what Jemma was expecting. She doesn’t even think SHIELD believed in vacations unless you were dying or your psychiatrist ex-husband had suddenly returned or your best friends boyfriend sacrificed himself and she ran away from everything she knew because she felt like a monster and you and your boyfriend go to the Seychelles for a week. 

(And honestly, that might have been the worst vacation of her life. Fitz really wasn’t made for the beach and he clearly didn’t really want to be there in the first place.) 

“A vacation?” She repeated, the word sounding foreign in her mouth, “How did you swing that one?” 

“Well, there was the whole thing of me shooting Talbot into space and lowkey saving the world.” Daisy deadpans. “And we’re owed a lot of vacation time. And I’m on very good terms with the Director and he can’t really say no to me.” 

“But why do you want to go with me?” Jemma hated how small her voice sounded but she couldn’t work it out. After  everything , why would Daisy want her to go on vacation with her? 

Daisy let out a small sigh before grabbing Jemma’s hands. 

“Because you’re my best friend in the entire world. Your husband, no matter how much I still kind of hate him, just left you to deal with the entire science division of SHIELD and you need a break. Because we haven’t spent time together in so long and  _ I miss you. _ ” 

Jemma was near tears by the end of Daisy’s speech. In large part, this was what she wanted most in the world. Fitz leaving was hard, half of Fitzsimmons was missing but that wasn’t what was keeping her up at night. It was  _ this _ , it was Daisy. It was laughing with her after some stupid mishap on a mission, it was their morning tea and coffee as they talked about their days, it was putting the other one to bed after a long day with a kiss on the forehead and a blanket wrapped tight around their shoulders. 

Jemma missed her best friend. And clearly, Daisy missed hers. 

This vacation sounded like the best idea Jemma had ever heard. 


	2. Welcome to Salutem, it means Safety in Latin by the way

“So, where are we actually going?” 

They had been flying for around two hours, the sky around them filled with white fluffy clouds. Daisy was piloting, (something Jemma hadn’t been aware she could do, but then again she did train under Melinda May, so flying a quinjet was probably one of the first things she learned) and Jemma was sat next to her in the co-pilots seat. 

“Well, first we’re dropping off those two,” Daisy said, referencing Davis and Piper in the back of the quinjet who were currently arguing over who actually ate the rest of the chocolate from Belgium on their first mission. “And then we’re heading to Idaho. And that’s all I can tell you.” 

She’d been like this about the whole vacation, only telling Jemma to pack hiking gear, some warm and cold clothes, bug spray and plenty of blankets. So either they were camping or heading on a wilderness survival quest. 

Honestly she didn’t care which as long as it wasn’t a beach. She’s had enough of the goddamn ocean in her life. 

They drop Piper and Davis off in Sacramento, with the promise to pick them up in two months. Their own vacation was only lasting a month but Davis needed time with his family and Piper wanted time away. They said their goodbyes and headed back onto the quinjet. 

“So now will you tell me what we’re doing on this vacation?” 

Daisy grinned at Jemma’s impatience and tapped the side of her nose. 

“Live dangerously for once, Gemini. All will be revealed in due time.” 

“Last time you said that we ended up drunk in Maryland and you had a tattoo.” 

“Hey, I love that tattoo!” 

Their back and forth continued as they crossed into Idaho airspace and started to descend. Just as they started lightly arguing about which prank was more successful, the one where they glued all of Hunter’s belongings to the ceiling or when Daisy hid in the vents for an entire day and pretended to be a ghost, they began to descend into a forest. 

As they became engulfed by thick trees and surrounded by different shades of green, Daisy took up the radio. 

“What colour is the mockingbird that flies in the afternoon?” She spoke into the device. 

And a minute later, a voice crackled through the radio that Jemma never thought she would hear again. 

“Skye blue.” Bobbi Morse’s voice sang. 

———————————————

“I can’t believe you never told me.” Jemma exclaimed as they landed in a large clearing in the forest. 

“Technically no one was supposed to contact them and they weren’t supposed to contact us.” Daisy defended. 

“Clearly, you stuck by that rule.” 

“It was only once I left SHIELD I reached out. Mack talks to them all the time, he wants them to come back but they said no. And I needed someone to look after this place. Who better than Bobbi and Hunter?” 

“This place?” 

But her question was answered the minute they stepped off the quinjet. 

It was like an entire village had been created in the middle of the forest. Small wooden cabins formed a circle and in the taller trees Jemma could see treehouses and small platforms riding on the lower branches. The cabins were small and cosy, like something from her childhood storybooks. In the middle of the cabins there was a playground where Jemma could see children of all ages playing. A small farm and vegetable patch resided to the left of her, the crops grown to abnormally large sizes. The greenhouses seemed to be overflowing with plants and Jemma could see people working in the afternoon sun. To her right was a gazebo and what seemed to be a pub complete with a beer garden and restaurant. If she squinted at one of the cabins she could just make out the shelves inside and guessed it was a store. 

“I call it Salutem. It’s a safe place for Inhumans. Or recovering SHIELD agents or even Avengers at one point last summer. Whoever needs help can get it here, but it’s mainly for Inhumans.” Daisy explained, waving to a few people as they walked into the circle. 

“You built this place?” Jemma asked, voice full of wonder. This place was...extraordinary. It leaked safety and comfort and the forest around them reminded Jemma of the one behind her house when she was little. The familiar scent of pine and oak and soil made her feel more at home than anything else had in over fifteen years. 

“You bet she did.” A familiar English accent says from behind her and she spins to see Bobbi and Hunter standing there. 

“Oh my god!” She exclaims as she runs forward and envelops then both in right hugs that probably knock the wind out of them but right now she can’t bring herself to care. She’s missed those two so goddamn much and it’s been three bloody years she’s pretty sure she’s allowed to squeeze them as tightly as she wants. 

“Missed you too, short stack.” Hunter wheezes and Jemma laughs a little through her happy tears. 

“Well, I can’t take all the credit. You two basically run this place. I just paid the bill and got it started.” Daisy says from behind them and Bobbi gently unwinds herself from Jemma to pull Daisy into the group hug. 

“Oh shut up. This place is all you.” Hunter grunts but his tone is teasing and light. Jemma beams at them, still disbelieving that they were here, with Bobbi and Hunter of all people in an Inhuman village/refuge set up by Daisy. 

“I better get the full story of that at some point.” Jemma warns. 

“We’re gonna need a lot of alcohol for that story then.” Daisy says it lightly, but her eyes are dark and downcast and Jemma knows she won’t be in for a happy story when she gets it. 

“Daisy!” A child’s voice rings out from the playground a few feet away and Jemma can suddenly hear the sound of pounding feet coming toward them. The group break their hug and see a whole hoard of kids running toward them. 

Six different kids immediately jump on Daisy and tackle her to the ground in a heap. She laughs as the kids all try to hug her at once even though she’s trapped underneath them all. She already seems brighter than Jemma’s seen her in months and her heart aches a bit. She herself already felt a lot lighter here, but it was having a profound effect on Daisy. Jemma was pretty sure that was the first time she’s heard her laugh since they escaped the Framework. 

She’s pretty sure it’s the first time she’s heard  anyone  laugh since the Framework. 

“All my favourite munchkins!” Daisy exclaims once she regains her breath. “Miss me?” 

The kids all start shouting their affections for her at once and Jemma just smiles at the scene. Daisy eventually works her way up to a sitting position and hugs each child individually as they all give her a verbal account of what she’s missed, including eight lost teeth, one broken arm, two new baby siblings, bunk beds, four new dogs, three cats, a gerbil and a new style of Skittles. 

Daisy seems to eventually get the kids to settle enough to gesture to Jemma to join her on the grass as two children no more than four years old sit in her lap. 

“This is my best friend in the whole universe, Jemma Simmons. She’s a scientist and she’s very, very, very smart. Smartest person I know and I know a lot of people.” Daisy introduces her to the kids who all study her with curious, wondering eyes. Jemma flushes a little at the watchful eyes and wonders what their little brains are thinking. 

She doesn’t need to wonder for long though as a little girl of nine leans in and whispers: 

“Do you want to make daisy chains with us?” 

And so, Jemma, Daisy, six Inhuman children, Bobbi and Hunter all sit in the grass making daisy chains. 

“Are you Inhuman like us?” The nine year old girl, Talia, she has learned, asks. 

“No, but I know a lot of them. And I’ve helped quite a few.” Jemma replies, looking to Daisy. Daisy smiles at her before turning back to Orla, one of the four year old twins and helping her thread her daisy chain. 

“How long are you staying Daisy?” Jack, a seven year old boy, asks. He holds his chain with the utmost care and attention like he is afraid to hold it too hard or it will break. 

Daisy turns to him and smiles, one of those smiles Jemma has only seen today, a soft and serene smile. She realises just how calm this place makes everyone and really wishes they had longer than a month to explore. 

“A month. Four whole weeks you’ve got with us.” Daisy proclaims proudly, as much to Bobbi, Hunter and Jemma as the kids. The four adults share knowing looks and the kids ramp up their excitement at the prospect of their favourite superhero staying for a whole month. 

A few hours later, after they have successfully sent each child back to whatever they were doing with daisy chains in their hair and showered and put their things away in their bedrooms in what seems to be Daisy’s cabin, they sit with freshly squeezed lemonade on the deck. Daisy braids Jemma’s hair into two french braids as Jemma watches the people around them live in harmony and tranquility. 

“You’ve built something really beautiful here, Dais.” Jemma whispers after a while. Daisy’s fingers still in her hair and Jemma worries for a moment that she’s upset her before she feels a soft kiss to her temple. 

She looks up as Daisy smiles softly at her. 

“The Inhumans needed somewhere safe. Somewhere they weren’t hunted or made into second class citizens or killed just because of their DNA. When I said the money went to worthy causes I meant here. A lot of people I relocated to safe houses around the country but it was safer to build a place. It’s kinda like Afterlife, but without the strict rules and regulations. The people can leave whenever they want, can go through terrigenesis on their own terms, can learn to deal with their powers. And they’ve got the best security system in the world with Bobbi and Hunter.” Daisy finishes her spiel with a shy smile and Jemma grins back at her. 

“Well I think it’s amazing. It’s off the books though isn’t it?” 

“Mack and YoYo know about it. But apart from that and every inhuman that I relocated, no one else knows it’s here. It’s safer that way.” 

Jemma just nods and turned back to watch the community of Inhumans again. A teenage girl with dark skin and sharp eyes laughs as she holds a pumpkin, her hands glow and the pumpkin grows three sizes. Jemma watched in astonishment as a tall man with a hooked nose and crinkled eyes lifts three of the oversized pumpkins with ease and deposits them in a wheelbarrow. Everyone here works in tandem, trusting the other to follow their lead or continue the task. It’s amazing to see. 

“Thank you for bringing me.” Jemma whispers eventually, leaning back into Daisy’s legs. 

“Anytime, Jem.” Daisy chuckles. 

Salutem. 

“Oh my god. You literally called it “safety”, Daisy.” Jemma laughs after she finally catches up on the name, the English equivalent to the Latin title forming in her brain. 

“Hey! I never claimed it was a good name, but if this place is anything, it’s that. Safety.” Daisy’s smile was serene as she stared at her people, living in peace after all this time. 

Jemma is pretty sure her smile mirrored Daisy’s as she watched Orla and Olivia, the other four year old, be floated in the air by an older Inhuman woman with bright blue hair. Their giggles fill the air and Jemma finds herself giggling with them. 

Yeah, safety is the right word for it.


	3. Redfish Lake is a Terrific Venue for an Observation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hope yall are liking this so far! This chapter is kinda long not going to lie, I don’t know what happened I just write and it gets really long lol. 
> 
> Bobbi and Jemma! Bobbi was basically their big sister lets be honest so she’s gonna make some observations in this chapter. 
> 
> This chapter is kinda anti-fitz and goes into the breakdown of Fitzsimmons a little. I’m trying to keep it in character but I feel like it’s not so take from it what you will. 
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy! -bex x

“So, you wanna go to the lake today?” Daisy asked three days later over breakfast. 

Breakfast at Salutem is a lively affair like every other meal. The mess hall is packed with people, every round table is full and bustling. Most of the food here is home grown, helped along by some very handy Inhumans like Ria and Matias. 

It’s a little like the science camp she went to when she was seven, Jemma thought at the first dinner she had here. Well, science camp was more labs and white coats but the idea is there. 

“Yeah, you’ll love the lake Jemma!” Talia has become her shadow. She hasn’t gone through terrigenesis yet but her mother encountered one of the fish oil pills three years ago and developed the ability to make things glow. Talia herself reminds Jemma of a younger version of herself, before SHIELD Academy and Fitz and everything. 

God, where did it all go wrong, Jemma thinks idly as she nods at Talia. 

“Sounds good.” Jemma replies eventually. She still had a slight aversion to large bodies of water after the ocean incident. 

“You don’t have to swim if you don’t want to Jem.” Daisy says to her with a knowing look. She knew all about Jemma’s fear of water like that after a mission in which Daisy had to hide in a HYDRA submarine to collect information and Jemma hadn’t taken a proper breath on the shore line until Daisy eventually swam back. 

It was moments like this that Jemma was glad she still had Daisy. Moments where she didn’t need to lock her fears in the music box in her head like her dad had always taught her to do. Where she didn’t need to hide her pain with smiles and a hair flip and “of course, you?”. Because Daisy understood that kind of pain, that hurt that buried itself inside you until you felt like a powder keg and one day, you would explode. 

“Can I come too?” Talia asked, excitement radiating off her. 

Daisy laughed before swiping a mini pancake off her plate. 

“Not this time, squirt.” 

Talia grumbled but accepted her fate. Jemma just smiled and Daisy smiled back. 

———————————————

Redfish Lake is a beautiful, never-ending expanse of blue surrounded by a rocky shore. The water is that crystal clear haze that feels like it came straight from a picture. 

But her body remembers another type of water. Her body remembers dragging the dead weight of Fitz up against the force of the waves because he gave her the last bloody breath of oxygen. Her body remembers the horrors beneath the surface and she has to fight to control her breathing a little. 

But Daisy grabs her hand and suddenly she can breathe easily again. It’s been happening a lot lately, her finding comfort in Daisy. Small touches or a hand grab or a smile on her direction and it’s like a warm glow has set alight in her stomach.

Strange. 

“So, are we swimming or what?” Hunter asks from behind them. Him and Bobbi had accompanied them to the lake, claiming they needed bonding and catch up time even though the four had barely left each other’s sides since Daisy and Jemma arrived. But it’s not like any of them are going to complain. Safety in numbers and all. 

And with two scientists/super spy, an inhuman SHIELD agent and a former SAS member turned mercenary, they couldn’t be any safer. 

“Think it’s just gonna be you and Rockstar, Hunter.” Bobbi replied, taking a seat on the blanket they’d laid on the bank. 

“Have fun you two.” She says to Daisy and Hunter as they grin like children and race each other to the water, stripping to their bathing suits as they go. They both dive into the water, effortlessly rising to the surface and splashing each other in a way Jemma will never be able to because of a medical pod and a HYDRA sleeper agent they trusted.

She watches a little wistfully until she feels a gentle kick on her shin. She turns to face Bobbi and the blonde smiles at her, shaking her head. 

“So. How are you really doing Jems?” Bobbi’s voice is gentle and soft, the same tone she’d used after Maveth and after San Juan. For someone who excelled at interrogation, she had the most gentle tones Jemma had ever heard. 

It makes Jemma think for a minute before answering. How was she  _ actually _ doing? 

In all honesty, she didn’t know. Her head was still a mishmash of the future and monoliths and gravitonium, it was hard to understand what was actually up there. But the one thing at the very forefront, a big flashing red light of  wrongness  was Fitz.

She should miss him right? She should feel like half her heart was gone, a black void in her bed, the missing word from her next sentence only he could fill? She should feel guilty like she should have persuaded him to stay or something. 

But she doesn’t. There is no hole, no void, no missing words. In some strange, probably fucked up way, she feels a little lighter. Like the burden she has been carrying for so long has lifted a little and she can walk without the weight. 

“I don’t know.” Is what she eventually answers because what she feels is probably wrong. She is now without Fitz, and half of Fitzsimmons is missing, yet she doesn’t really care. He left her, not through death or the cosmos or some intergalactic kidnapping, no. He handed her divorce papers, when their marriage probably wasn’t even legal in the first place considering they never signed  _ marriage _ papers, and he said nothing to her as he got in a car to the airport whilst she sobbed. 

And eventually, when Daisy found her in the hangar, tear tracks staining her face, she accepted. 

She accepted that he was gone. That they weren’t going to work it out this time like every other fight, because this one was the end. It had probably been coming for months, especially after the Doctor’s reappearance. She’d stuck by him after that, even after he hurt Daisy, even after he said that it had to be done when she knew it didn’t. She tried to comfort him, to make him see he was still a good man, he’d just done bad things. 

Clearly, it wasn’t enough. He just kept going on about how he didn’t “deserve” her, like she was some sort of prize. Like she would only love him or he would love her when he decided he could. 

And it was that that drove them apart. He brought it up in every argument and her skin would feel like it was on fire. He’d snap back at her and they’d scream and shout because he couldn’t see how much this was hurting her. They’d spend days not talking and when they did it was so toxic she felt like she was breathing mustard gas. 

People kept telling her they would work it out, they had to, they were Fitzsimmons. They’d crossed time and space to be with each other, they could get over the fighting. They could get over the chasm that had opened between them, the love lost would be found, the flaring anger would eventually cease to nothing. Mack told her to have patience, Elena told her to have faith, Coulson told her to belief, May told her to have strength, Deke told her to have trust, hell, even Fitz himself tried to give her advice on how to fix their failing marriage since he couldn’t do it alone. 

The only one who didn’t was Daisy. 

Jemma looks at Daisy now, sending quakes into the water to splash Hunter who was desperately trying to splash her back. She looks at her and is reminded of the nights spent in the Lighthouse common room when the lab got too hostile and their bedroom was no longer a sanctuary. The nights Daisy had sat beside her with a cup of tea and read some book to her until Jemma eventually nodded off. Even though they had their issues, Daisy still did it. 

It was a past time created after Maveth, when Jemma was still recovering. Daisy would come in on her off time, or just to escape and read to her so Jemma could fall asleep. They’d made it through all of the Narnia books, Lord of the Rings and half of the Harry Potter series by the time Hive made his appearance. 

This time, they’d made it all the way to the end of the Harry Potter books and started the Terry Pratchett books by the time they’d left for Salutem. 

Bobbi watches Jemma with a knowing glint in her eye. 

“I think you’re gonna be okay, Jem. Just stick with her. You two will get there eventually.” 

Jemma startles at this sudden revelation from Bobbi. 

“What?” 

Bobbi’s eyes roll so far back in her head, Jemma didn’t know if they were coming back down. 

“You two have been making heart eyes at each other for as long as I have known you. And I am a trained spy, specifically trained in interrogation. I know those things. You two have got it worse than you and Fitz did.” 

Jemma cringes at Fitz’s name, especially in the context of what Bobbi was saying. She knew she had feelings for Daisy, had them since the day they’d met. The way she laughed or smiled or the way her eyes crinkled when she was happy or the way she purred like a cat because of her powers sometimes, erupted butterflies like a volcano inside Jemma’s stomach. 

They’d even talked about it once. In some sort of vague terms, on a drunk night on the Bus, when Daisy was Skye and Jemma was fresh in the field. They’d both confessed that they were bisexual and that the other one was very cute and they were definitely each other’s types, had they met elsewhere they might have even gone on a couple of dates. She can vaguely remember some drunken kisses, ones that tasted of tequila and sweetness, ones that felt right. 

But then Ward and HYDRA happened. Then the pod and Fitz happened and then Jemma went to HYDRA and the next time they saw each other, Skye nearly shot her. Then San Juan and Afterlife happened and suddenly Jemma was on an alien planet. She came back and Skye was Daisy. Then her and Fitz kissed and Lincoln and Daisy were a thing then Hive happened and so on and so on. 

But since the Framework and the fight with the LMDs at the Playground, the feelings she’d been suppressing for Daisy had returned tenfold and she’d tried desperately to crush them because of Fitz. But he was gone and Daisy was still there, had always been there, even when she’d ran away, she came back. The crush she’d been harbouring was growing like a rose in bloom. 

“I love her. Always have, but I don’t know if she feels the same way anymore. Not after Lincoln.” Jemma finds herself admitting and now that it’s out, she feels a lot more free. Like just the admittance of her love for Daisy to someone else was a weight like Fitz, and now she was standing a little taller. 

Bobbi’s smile is gentle and she nods. 

“She’s been through a lot, like you. She stayed with us when we were still living in San Francisco, two months after she left SHIELD, I think. I’ve never seen her like that, never seen anyone like that. I don’t think she’d ate or slept properly for months and she’d been shot in the leg when she found us. But when she eventually started talking about what happened, it was the guilt of having hurt all of you that was weighing on her the most. Lincoln was just the straw that broke the camels back, she already felt like a monster. But it was you she kept mentioning, Jem. How she could never hurt you, even in that state. She said she was screaming in her head when it was near you, that even though she hurt Fitz and Mack she could never ever hurt you. She loves you Jemma, just like you love her” 

And Jemma just stares at the girl happily playing in the waves of her own making, long brown hair flowing in the breeze. She knows those bright, chocolate eyes hide a million demons and that smile could tell a million horror stories. But she sees a girl she loves and who loves her. 

And when Daisy turns and sees Jemma staring, her smile grows about ten inches. 

It’s not a volcano of butterflies in her stomach, it’s an earthquake.


	4. Bruises and Nightmares Will Always Lead to Love Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, they’re finally admitting they love each other and the first kiss! 
> 
> WARNINGS: Daisys power repressing is back for a little bit and she has some injuries that are described and some Framework nightmare stuff is mentioned but it’s not graphic or anything.

It’s two weeks after the lake when Jemma finds Daisy in the kitchen of the cabin at half three in the morning. She’d woken from a nightmare about Maveth and just wanted a cup of tea to calm her nerves before returning to bed. 

Her trip to the small kitchen had not accounted for Daisy wrapping her arms in bandages with shaking hands whilst the mugs rattled on their stand behind her. 

“Daisy? What’s going on? Are you hurt?” She crosses the kitchen in two strides and reaches out for Daisy’s hands, but she flinched away. 

“It’s nothing Jemma, go back to sleep.” Daisy’s voice is broken and tired and now Jemma is closer, she can see the dark circles and how her face looks so much more scarred in the light of the kitchen than it does in the daylight. 

“If it was nothing, you wouldn’t be bandaging your arms at half three in the morning, Daisy. What happened?” Her tone offers no opportunity for challenge, because it’s Daisy. And because it’s Daisy, Jemma has to ensure she’s okay. The girl is known for avoiding medical and check ups. 

“I just...I...Jemma.” Her last word is cracked and jagged as she collapses into Jemma, beginning to sob. Jemma just puts her arms around the taller girl, who feels so much smaller in her fragile state. 

Daisy shakes and trembles in her arms and her sobs are so gut wrenching that Jemma almost begins to cry too. She knows this type of pain, they’re both accustomed to these breakdowns. It’s a buildup of too many “I’m fine”s when you were screaming inside your head, too many fake smiles when you just wanted to cry till you were dehydrated and begging for water, too many nights spent in nightmares and with demons beyond your control because you weren’t dealing with them in waking hours, so they came at night instead. 

And because they know this pain so well, this routine has been tried and tested. Jemma moves them to the couch, still holding Daisy in a vice grip so she still knew Jemma was there. Daisy’s sobs got a little quieter, dying to whimpers and shakes, as she calmed a little. Jemma strokes her fingers through Daisy’s tangled brown locks, moving them in a rhythm that follows the soft lullaby she hums to Daisy. It’s some old song her mother used to sing when she was very little, before she started reading medical textbooks instead of Roald Dahl and experimenting on her dolls instead of tea parties. The lullaby is soft and gentle though, and it always works with Daisy, just like stories work with Jemma. 

They stay like that for what must be over an hour. Until Daisy’s cries eventually stop and everything around them stills. The only thing that shakes is Daisy’s body, still trying to regulate her breathing. 

“This is...this is real? Right, Jem? Please tell me this is real.” Daisy’s words are a plea and a beg and Jemma feels a strange sense of deja-vu. She’s said those exact words, uttered that exact plea to Daisy herself, when they were in space and in the Lighthouse and even here, in the cabin. The Framework affected all of them, but for Daisy and Jemma, they had to continually check that life was real and they hadn’t been attacked and replaced by LMDs again. 

So when Daisy whispers those exact words, Jemma responds with what they always say to each other: 

“This is real, Daisy. I promise you, it’s real. We are safe and you got us home. Us against the world.” 

And it works like it always does. Jemma still feels the gentle quake of her bones like always because it was Daisy’s other way of checking, ensuring they were both flesh and blood and bones,  _ real bones _ , not wires and code. 

Daisy collapses on the back rest of the couch. Jemma finally lets her go and catches sight of her arms, which started this whole thing in the first place. 

“What happened Daisy?” 

Her arms are spotted purple, black lines like poison veins running down her forearms to her fingers, blue splotches prominent against her tanned flesh. It’s too familiar. It’s the same bruising Skye had just after she got her powers and turned them inward and when Daisy left and fought the Watchdogs without her gauntlets. 

“I had a nightmare. We were trapped in the Framework and HYDRA had captured both of us this time. Fitz...he had me strapped to a table like he did...when he removed the implant.” Daisy’s words are like glass, stabbing into Jemma’s very soul. “And I could hear you screaming in the other cell, like Radcliffe was. And I begged him to let me go, that he loved you, loved us, he would never hurt us. But he cut into me anyway. Like always. And you kept screaming and I was screaming and all the Inhumans they had captured were screaming and- and- and-“ Daisy stutters as her tears returned even though Jemma was sure she had cried herself out. 

How did she even reply to that? Daisy never spoke about what happened to her in the Framework when she had been captured and tortured. She was too afraid to upset May and Fitz and Mack. But Jemma knew something happened from the way she flinched away from Fitz for weeks before he tortured her again, the way her hand unconsciously brushed her cheek any time the Framework was mentioned, the way they spent nights together in the same bed because they didn’t trust the world they woke up in. 

Jemma is pretty sure that’s why Daisy struggled with Fitz’s split so much. It wasn’t the first time, he’d promised never to hurt her again but he had. Daisy struggled with broken promises after an entire childhood of them but this one was the hardest. Her and Fitz’s friendship had stood the test of time, they were like brother and sister. Which ultimately made it so much harder when she crushed on Daisy but that didn’t matter right now. She could deal with her love life tragedies later, right now Daisy had bruises up to her elbows and Jemma was already suspecting fracturing. 

“I thought you stopped repressing you’re powers, Dais?” She asked, softly, steering the conversation away from her nightmare before she or Daisy started crying again. 

“It’s harder to control when I’m asleep. I didn’t have powers in the Framework or when I had the inhibitor but I could still feel them? My body still knows the vibrations around me and I can always  _ feel _ them, but when my powers are dampened I can’t  _ control  _ them. If I dream about that stuff then sometimes my powers invert and I can’t really stop it, Jem. I’ve tried but it really doesn’t end well.” Daisy didn’t look at her when she explained her sudden regression in control. Her eyes were trained on the Cage the Elephant poster on the wall instead, they were dark and stormy looking in the half light from the lamp and Jemma wonders about the storm in Daisy’s head. It was probably like her own, she reasoned, but with binary code instead of biology and combat instead of chemistry. 

“Let’s wrap those up, shall we?” 

And ten minutes later, Daisy had thick bandages on both arms and bruise cream underneath. She’ll heal quickly, due to her Inhuman biology and the Centipede serum, but she’ll have bruises for a while. 

They’ve sat in silence for a while now, Jemma’s tea has gone cold and Daisy has grabbed a blanket to spread over them because she was cold. 

“Are you still in love with Fitz?” Daisy blurts eventually, catching Jemma off guard. 

“What?” Jemma startles. Of all things, that was not how she thought Daisy was going to break the silence with. 

“Sorry, it’s just been weighing on me. I just want to know, are you still in love with him?” Daisy looks guilty for even bringing him up, but Jemma’s honestly a little glad. They can confront the issue now and move on. God knows they all need to move on. 

“I think I’ll always love him in some way. I mean we were partners for fifteen years and we got married. But I’m not  _ in love  _ with him anymore. I think I really stopped after he...you know. But I didn’t realise until he left how unhappy I was, how much we didn’t work. So, no I’m not in love with him.” The answer rolls right off her tongue and she feels guilty for all of two seconds before she remembers the divorce papers she sent away and the choice he made for her. 

Daisy lets out a small sigh of relief, and hugs her knees to her chest. 

“I told Deke I was still in with Lincoln.” She says, but her eyes say something else. Something guilty and sad. “But I don’t think I am. I don’t know if what we had was love because there wasn’t time to find out if it was. But I don’t think it could have been any way. We just didn’t really work and we would have split anyway. But I think I was confusing my grief and guilt for love back then.” Daisy looks a little lighter once she’s confessed this, like it’s been sitting on her shoulders. And maybe it has, so Jemma’s just happy Daisy is finally lightening her load a little. 

“Then why did you tell Deke you were?” She asks, because that kind of doesn’t make sense. 

“I wanted him off my back. I know he’s your grandson and all but he is kind of a dick. I mean he literally sold me into slavery, I don’t forgive that easily. And I don’t think he would have liked it is I told him who I am in love with anyway.” 

“And who would that be?” Jemma asks, cautiously. It’s probably Piper or something, Jemma tries to tell herself so she doesn’t get her hopes up. Piper and Daisy had been hanging out a lot since the Framework, maybe they’d connected or something. Maybe it was Robbie, him and Daisy seemed to be good friends when he stepped through the portal to hell. It couldn’t be her. 

Daisy looks at her for a long minute before taking a deep breath and leaning in. Jemma feels her breath catch in her throat and before she knows it, Daisy’s lips are on hers. 

She hesitates for a moment before kissing back. Daisy’s lips are soft on hers, her mouth tastes like mint and strawberry chapstick and Jemma relishes in it. The kiss is soft and sweet, but Jemma can still feel an electricity she never felt with Fitz. This feels right, like she should have been kissing Daisy all along. 

Daisy pulls back and opens her eyes. 

“I...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be too forward, you probably don’t even like me like that and it’s so soon after Fitz-“ Jemma cuts her off with another kiss and tries to put all the words she can’t say into it. All the promises, all the “I love you too”s, all the “no this is I want”s. She puts it all into her and Daisy’s lips and hopes Daisy understands. 

Clearly she does, because Daisy sighs against her mouth and tugs Jemma closet with her bandaged arm. Jemma slides her tongue against Daisy’s lips, asking for permission and Daisy agrees, both exploring each other’s mouths the way they have been day-dreaming about for years. 

They break apart when oxygen becomes vital. Breathless and flushed, they stare at each other for a long minute. Daisy’s long eyelashes flutter for a moment and she cocks her head to the side. 

“So, uh, this is cool.” She says. 

“Really? That’s what you’re going with?” Jemma snorts. 

“Yes.” Daisy laughs, the atmosphere around them becoming instantly lighter. “So, we’re good? You want this?” 

“More than anything. Daisy I want you so badly and I’m sorry I never told you before but, stuff happened. This is what you want too?” Jemma rushes, the words falling from her lips like water because it was finally happening, Daisy liked her,  _ loved  _ her too! 

“Yeah, Jem. I want this. But uh, can we go to bed? Not in like the sex way! Just I really don’t wanna sleep alone and well we just made out on the couch and are we dating now?” Jemma definitely wouldn’t have pegged Daisy for the nervous, shy one in a relationship, she exuded romantic coolness with her previous boyfriends. Maybe it was a girl thing, Jemma reasoned. 

“Yeah, we can go sleep Daisy. I’m expecting lots of cuddling though, you have been warned.” Jemma laughed, pulling herself and Daisy to their feet, careful of Daisy’s injuries. 

They lie in Daisy’s bed ten minutes later, Daisy’s body curled around Jemma, the old Captain America blanket Jemma is sure Daisy stole from Coulson covering their entangled bodies. 

“Hey, Jemma?” Daisy’s voice is gravelly and sleepy. 

“Hmm?” Jemma’s eyes are closed and she already knows this will be the best night of sleep she’s had in a long time. 

“I love you.” 

“I know. I love you too. Now go to sleep.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh do yall want some smut in this or what? I’ve never written it but I can try before we get into some nitty gritty Coulson grief and trauma which is coming in chapter 6 I think, so be prepared. 
> 
> Lemme know!


	5. Stars in Your Skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finally finished this and I changed the amount of chapters because I got completely blocked writing this and couldn’t think of where it could go. 
> 
> I know I asked if people wanted smut and most did, but I have discovered that I’m pretty much incapable of writing it, so I’m very sorry but this is just a fluff and slight angst chapter.
> 
> Also this is where Coulson dies. 
> 
> Also this chapter is kinda shit and all over the place but it’s done and I am going to sleep lol.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading this! I hope you enjoyed it!   
> -bex xx

Jemma wakes up to an empty bed and a pit in her stomach when she reads Daisy’s note. 

_ May called in the night. He’s gone. I’ll be back tomorrow. Love you, D. _

He really was gone then. It’s such a strange thing to think, Coulson recruited her to the team and changed her entire life. He’s always been there and now he wasn’t, it doesn’t feel right. But she knows that what she feels won’t even begin to compare to what Daisy will be feeling. Coulson was like a father to her, she’d spent the past year trying to save him from his inevitable death before he took the choice out of her hands. 

But she knew that she’d support Daisy in any way she could, she owed her that much after all that happened when they found out about the time loop and the future and his looming death. Also because she loved her. 

She loved her. And Daisy loved her back. The feeling of warmth emits under the sudden sadness like a fire, pooling in her stomach and filling her with light. 

She cleans up the cabin before she ventures out to Salutem. Their Thai from last night is put in the trash, clothes stripped off at the edge of the bed in their passion filled haste picked up off the floor, blankets folded. She feels a lot calmer when it’s done but there’s still a dark hole in her stomach where she’s worrying about Daisy.

* * *

“Hey, short stack.” Hunter calls when she walks outside, clearly heading to her cabin anyway. He’s a lot more tan than he was when he was an agent, probably to do with the Idaho sun. He’s looks a lot happier too, healthier, it’s a common theme around here. 

“Hey, Hunter.” Jemma replies, pulling on a jacket. It used to be Daisy’s, but she claimed the old Columbia bomber when Daisy switched strictly to leather. Not that she’s complaining. 

“What’s your plan for today?” He asks, standing at the foot of the cabin steps. He’s in hiking gear and Jemma is pretty sure she knows where he wants to go. 

“Nothing, Daisy’s...away. She’s not back till tomorrow. You want to go hiking?” She doesn’t know how much they know about Coulson’s condition and about Tahiti.

“Yeah she radioed Bobbi when she was leaving, making sure her flight path was clear. We can go up the cliffs if you want to, I can show you all the great spots to take your new girlfriend.” 

“Am I going to get the shovel talk?” She laughs, although she already knows she’ll get one from Mack and one from May. Daisy will probably get one from Bobbi and Elena though, so it’ll balance the scales. Not that either of them had it in them to hurt each other, not after everything they’ve been through together. 

“Nah, I’ll leave that to the more eloquent of my peers. I just wanted a catch up.” He says as the set off, past the cabins and the playground and onto the cliff path. 

“I’m sorry, Jem, I don’t think I ever said it, but I am. You know, I never expected him to yknow, go to the dark side and whatever.” Hunter admits when they’ve walked a little up the steep path. 

“What?” Jemma asks. 

“Fitz. He said something about a darkness within him but I didn’t think he would do... _that_. ” Hunter says, keeping his eyes focused on the ground like it is his fault. 

“You mean what he did to Daisy.” Jemma says quietly, volume not needed for this type of conversation. 

It weighed on her mind a lot, what happened to Daisy. Seeing her on that table...it opened her eyes to the things that were wrong. It wasn’t a “moral grey area” like she told Fitz when she was trying to stop him collapsing in on himself, it was wrong. It was a big, black hole of wrongness that she knew Daisy was still struggling with. She’d accidentally brushed the cut on Daisy’s neck two nights ago and Daisy had instantly frozen before trying to pretend that it was okay, but Jemma saw. The fear and the pain and the anger. It was all still there, just waiting for the right moment, like a time bomb. And she didn’t know how long the clock had left. 

“Yeah, do you know she phoned us? Right after it happened, she phoned and we were gonna fly out but she said it wasn’t safe and she would be fine, but she’s not, is she?” Hunter says and he looks at her this time, properly looks and Jemma tries to find the words. 

“She’s a bit better now, this vacation has helped a lot. And the fact that he’s gone, she doesn’t need to see him everyday helps too I think. It’s probably good that you didn’t come out, we could barely leave, never mind you two. Although I hear your names are cleared?” She switches the subject rapidly before the blame game could begin. 

“Yeah, Daisy pulled some strings. Or she hacked the Russian government and got our names cleared, who knows. We can go back to SHIELD if we want, travel around the globe again, go back to Russia.” Hunter laughs and the heavy atmosphere lifts. 

“Are you going to come back? The team really misses you and we do need more agents.” 

“Nah, we’ve got a good life here. This is our mission, we look after the Inhumans here. We gave up a lot for SHIELD and we’re getting it back now. Besides, we might have something else to stick around for soon.” Hunter says vaguely which all but screams to Jemma that he’s hiding something. 

“Is Bobbi pregnant?” She asks because Hunter is really, very bad at subtlety. 

“Shh! No one is supposed to know! She was gonna tell her yourself when Daisy got back so keep it quiet for now.” Hunter half yelps and Jemma laughs. 

“I’m so excited for you! Congrats!” She pulls him into a tight hug and tries to pour all her love into that hug. “I’d better be godmother.” 

“You and Daisy are top of the list.” 

* * *

Daisy’s Quinjet lands the next day and Jemma meets her at the landing site. Daisy and May step off the Quinjet and Daisy immediately barrels into her arms. 

“I missed you.” Daisy whispers into her ear, her voice cracked and strained. There are tear stains ingrained on her face and May isn’t looking much better. Both women look hollowed out, the weight of Coulson’s death on their shoulders dragging them down. 

“Simmons.” May gives them a curt nod before heading over to Bobbi and Hunter who are waiting on a bench nearby. 

“How’d it go?” Jemma asks and Daisy shrugs. 

“He wanted to be buried in Tahiti. We picked a spot near the ocean. We said goodbye today, Simmons.” It’s the finality that has Daisy crying again. Fresh tears roll down her face and Jemma pulls her tighter. Daisy trembles and the ground beneath quakes in tandem, rocking them in a way that is strangely comforting. 

Jemma sings their lullaby, the one that always works with Daisy and eventually Daisy stops crying, sighing into Jemma’s shoulder. 

“Guess we better go get May a bunk.” 

* * *

“Hey, Jem? Tell me about the stars.” It’s hours later and they’re curled up in bed, under the Captain America blanket. Daisy is wearing an old SHIELD Academy shirt that Jemma is pretty sure she stole from Coulson too. She tightens her grip on Daisy, curling further around her. 

“Why?” 

“Yesterday and today were...rough. I just want to hear about something good, something you love.” Daisy admits, drawing random patterns on Jemma’s forearms around her waist. 

“Well, there’s my favourite, Theta Serpentis, also known as Alya. It’s a triple star system and a binary star. Then there’s Sirius and Orion’s Belt. There’s Hercules and Cassiopeia and Perseus and Polaris and...” 

She carries on until she hears Daisy’s breathing deepen and knows she’s asleep. It’s something she used to do herself, on Maveth. The galaxy was so different out there and she’d try to remember all the stars in her own sky back home to keep herself sane. She’d lie on the sandy, desolate dunes and stare into the cosmos of a system she’d never truly understand and try to place where those stars would be. Pisces and Gemini and Ursa Major were her protectors, Alya and Lynx her companions, Cygnus and Auriga her warriors. 

And if she can keep Daisy safe with that too, then she’d happily teach Daisy all about the stars. 

She has a feeling that the next few months or years are going to be up and down. They’re leaving Salutem in three days, Mack wants them back early because Daisy has to meet with some diplomats and officials, and there’s just been some medical crisis that Jemma needs to look at when they go back. 

But they still have those three days in this little paradise. They play with the Inhuman kids, Talia is still attached to her like a shadow and she gives the young girl a lot on insight into the medical world. Talia begs them to stay, as do all the kids, (and half the adults) but they do have to go back to the real world eventually. 

Daisy and May spend a lot of time together too, grieving Coulson together rather than apart. They reminisce and laugh and cry a little and Jemma can tell that the two of them are better because of it. 

“Glad I dragged you out of that lab?” Daisy smirks into her neck the night before they leave, getting one last night of peace before they go back to thin walls in a spy base. 

“Over the moon, Daisy Johnson. You do sometimes have good ideas.” Daisy sighs as Daisy hits  _ that  _ spot on her neck that makes her whimper. 

“I love you, Gemini.” 

“I love you too, D.” 

* * *

They leave Salutem with tearful goodbyes and promises of a return trip soon. 

“We have a godchild to meet anyway.” Daisy had said to Bobbi and Hunter as they left. 

The flight back is filled with a laughter and stories from Salutem and Tahiti as they caught May up on their vacation and she told them about hers. They hear about Coulson’s many Hawaiian shirts and the parasailing, with pictures to match and May hears about the pancake incident where Daisy nearly burned down the cabin and when she tried to water ski using only her powers, succeeding in causing a slight tidal wave. 

They land at the Lighthouse and it feels like coming home. She left a different person than she was coming back, she was wound up and angry and pining and stressed. Now, she’s happy and excited about her work again, in love with the girl she’s wanted for years and  free. They step into the Lighthouse and right back into the swing of things when Yoyo hands Mack twenty dollars when they see Daisy’s jacket on her shoulders and their entwined hands. 

Turns out that SHIELD vacations were just the steps you need to point you in the right direction.


End file.
